Located just 15 minutes south of Wilmington, Delaware - Newport Rowing Club is Delaware’s premier high school & middle school rowing club. NRC athletes consistently qualify for the USRowing Youth National Championships each year, and continue to row or cox at the Collegiate, Senior, and Olympic level as alumni.

Founded in August 2010, NRC is a nonprofit organization with the mission to provide education, training, instruction, and participation in amateur rowing while developing the healthy minds, bodies, and character of student athletes.

About

Our Coaches

Jess Crosby

Head Coach

  • Jess started her rowing career as a coxswain at Newport Rowing Club while she was a junior at Padua Academy. She was recruited to cox for the Women's Rowing team at Saint Joseph's University in 2015, where she studied International Business and Marketing.

    While at SJU, she was a four year varsity coxswain on the women's rowing team, and a two year Varsity 8+ coxswain. Jess led the Varsity 8+ to top finishes at Kelly Cup, Murphy Cup, and the Dad Vail Regatta each year. During the summers of 2015-2017, Jess coached the Developmental Sculling Program at Crescent Boat Club on Boathouse Row and assisted with the summer rowing program at SJU. After graduation in 2019, she coached for Conestoga Crew Club on the Schuylkill as the Head Novice Coach.

  • Jess Crosby was named Head Coach of Newport Rowing Club in August 2020. Over the past 6 years, she has developed NRC into the premier high school rowing club in Delaware. Under her guidance, NRC was nearly undefeated in the Women's Youth 1x in the 2022-2024 seasons, culminating in a bronze medal at the 2024 USRowing Youth National Championships.

    During the summer, she is an assistant coach at Fairmount Rowing Association Juniors on Boathouse Row. In 2023, she helped guide their women's U19 4x to Henley Gold at Royal Canadian Henley Regatta in St. Catherine's, Ontario.

    Jess is also an Assistant Coach at Thomas Jefferson University Women’s Rowing in Philadelphia, PA and is a USRowing Level 2 Certified coach.

rowing coach in delaware with international racing experience

Isabella HAleski

Assistant Coach

  • Isabella started her rowing career in 2012 at the San Silvestre School in Lima, Peru. She was a member of the Peruvian National team from 2012 - 2016. Her accomplishments include winning the Women's Youth 1x and 2x at the Peruvian National Championships in 2014 and the Women's Youth 4x in 2016, as well as placing 6th in the Women's Youth 4x at the World Rowing Championships in 2016.  She was also the South American Women's Youth 1x Champion in the same year.

  • Isabella was recruited to row for Saint Joseph's University, where she was a 4-year member of the Varsity 8. In 2017, she won a bronze medal in the Varsity 8 at the Dad Vail Regatta, and competed with the boat at the Henley Women's Regatta in England. In 2019, Isabella was a member of the Women's Collegiate 4+ that took home bronze at Head of the Charles.

    Isabella began coaching at NRC in 2023 and also works at JP Morgan & Chase in Wilmington, DE.

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GRace Crosby

Head Novice Coach

  • Grace began rowing in 2016 through the Novice program at Crescent Boat Club on Boathouse Row. She joined the middle school program at Newport Rowing Club in 2017. She was a four-year varsity athlete while attending Padua Academy, both as a coxswain and lightweight rower. While at NRC, Grace coxed the Women's Lightweight 4+ to a 3rd place finish at Bill Braxton in 2019, and also placed 1st rowing in the Women's JV 4x at the same regatta. As a senior in 2021, Grace placed 4th in both the Women's Youth 2- and Women's Youth 4- at Mid-Atlantic Youth Championships, earning bids to the USRowing Youth National Championships, the club's first since 2018. 

  • Grace graduated from Temple University in 2025 with a bachelor’s degree in Communications. In her tenure on the Men’s Crew team, she coxed the Men’s Junior Varsity 4+ to a gold medal at the Dad Vail Regatta Championship in 2023, led the Varsity 8+ to a 5th place finish in the Collegiate 8+ at the 2023 Head of the Charles in Boston, MA, took home gold in the Men’s Second Varsity 8+ in 2024 at the Dad Vail, and also gold at the 2025 Dad Vail Championship in the Men’s Varsity 8+, and an impressive feat.

    To conclude her 10-year rowing career, Grace was the first female Temple Men’s Crew coxswain to win the Men’s Varsity 8+ at the Dad Vail Championship and lead a crew at the prestigious Henley Royal Regatta in England.

    Grace began coaching Learn-to-Row camps at NRC in the summer of 2021, and continues to share her love of rowing with new athletes. She became the Head Novice Coach in the fall of 2025. Grace also works as the Volunteer Coordinator for Habitat for Humanity in Montco, PA.

Portrait of a woman with long blonde hair smiling, wearing a red floral top and black jacket, in front of a blue chevron-patterned background.

Emma Mulrine

Head Middle School Coach

  • Emma was first introduced to rowing as a 12-year-old through a summer camp, and fell in love with the sport right away! She joined WYRA as a novice in 2004, and rowed varsity for all four years of high school. In the summers, she coached learn-to-row programs as an assistant and then later as head coach for several years.

    In 2009, Emma continued rowing at the University of Richmond for their club team and was elected a club officer for several seasons. At Richmond, she was a member of their Varsity 8+, and also helped to coach new rowers without prior experience who wanted to try the new sport.

  • Emma successfully led NRC’s Men’s Under 15 Coxed 4x+ to a silver medal at the 2024 USRowing Mid-Atlantic Youth Championships, a first in club history.

    Emma loves working with middle-schoolers, teaching rowing fundamentals and helping athletes build confidence and skills before they begin racing as competitive rowers. Emma also teaches 7th and 8th grade at Wilmington Montessori School in Wilmington, DE.

Darnell Williams

Strength Coach

  • Coming soon!

  • Coming soon!

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John Tierney

Assistant Coach Emeritus

  • John began rowing on the River Thames, at Hammersmith, for St. Clement Danes Grammar School and Furnivall Sculling Club, in 1964. He continued rowing with great success at Reading University in both four and eight-oared events. In 1974, drawn to the area by its established rowing community, he came to Philadelphia and Temple University to study for a Ph.D. in organic chemistry. John rowed at the Vesper Boat Club representing the club at national and international regattas. He also coached intermediate and senior programs each summer between 1979 and 1985.

  • In July 1986, he was named Rowing Team Leader for the US Olympic Sports Festival in Houston ,Texas. In August 1986, he became the Team Leader for the US lightweight team to the World Rowing Championships in Nottingham, England. He subsequently led US Teams to regattas and World Championships in Copenhagen (Denmark), Luzern (Switzerland), Amsterdam (Holland), Hazewinkel (Belgium), Zeged (Hungary), and Milan (Italy). In 1991, he was Team Leader at the Pan Am games in Cuba, and the following year in Barcelona for the 1992 Olympics.

    His affiliation began with Newport when his daughter, Lanie, started rowing there in 2016. John Tierney, known to the athletes as "Coach JT,"  joined the NRC staff in the spring of 2019. He is also an active rower and cyclist, and still occasionally gets in a boat to row with former crewmates.

NRC Success

  • Two young women smiling at a rowing competition, one wearing a medal, standing in front of a backdrop with US Rowing and Broadridge logos.

    USRowing Youth Nationals

    Grace Moore '24 (right); Newport Rowing Club, 2024 USRowing Youth National Championships Bronze Medalist in the Women’s Youth 1x

  • Four male athletes in blue tracksuits standing on a podium with medals around their necks, celebrating with raised hands. They are in front of a body of water with greenery in the background. Labels identify them as Liam Corrigan, Michael Grady, Justin Best, and Nick Mead, winners of men's rowing four for Team USA, with a headline celebrating their Olympic gold medal since 1960.

    Paris Olympics

    Justin Best '15 (second from right); United States Olympic Team, 2024 Olympic Champion in the Men’s 4-

  • A girls' rowing team standing on a dock, wearing matching team uniforms, holding medals and trophies, with a person on the far left wearing a hoodie and glasses, under a cloudy sky.

    Dad Vail Regatta

    Caroline Antunes '20 (second from right); Georgetown University, 2024 Dad Vail Champion in the Women’s Lightweight 8+

  • A group of nine rowers and a coach celebrating with medals and trophies on a dock, holding a red and white flag with a large stylized T, after a rowing competition.

    Dad Vail Regatta

    Grace Crosby '21 (third from right); Temple University, 2024 Dad Vail Champion in the Men’s Varsity 8+

  • Four people on a dock by a river, with a woman sitting in a rowing boat, wearing a blue and yellow rowing uniform. Two men and one woman stand behind her on the dock, dressed in semi-formal and casual clothing. The scene appears to be at the Dad Vail Regatta on May 11, 2024.

    Dad Vail Regatta

    Taylor Mathis '20 (bow seat); University of Pittsburgh, 2024 Dad Vail Silver Medalist in the Women’s 2-

  • An older woman and a young female athlete smiling at the camera, holding a trophy and a framed certificate after a regatta event with a backdrop displaying logos for the Stotesbury Cup Regatta and Toyota.

    Stotesbury Cup Regatta

    Grace Moore '24 (right); Newport Rowing Club [Saint Mark's HS], 2024 Stotesbury Cup Champion in the Girls Senior 1x

  • Group of nine young people standing on stage in front of a large backdrop that reads 'Head of the Charles' with medals around their necks and holding small objects. They are dressed in casual athletic clothing, many in red Temple University shirts or jackets, and smiling for the photo.

    Head of the Charles Regatta

    Grace Crosby '21 (middle); Temple University, 2023 Head of the Charles 5th place Medalist in the Men’s Collegiate 8+

  • A group of young people in matching maroon blazers with stripes, standing in front of a pink backdrop with logos, celebrating and holding trophies, at an outdoor event under a tent.

    Henley Women's Regatta

    Gabby DiMarco '17 (second from top right); Brookes University, 2023 Henley Women's Regatta Champion

  • Three people, two women and one man, stand in front of a backdrop with sponsor logos, smiling. The woman in the middle, wearing athletic gear, holds a large trophy and has a gold medal around her neck. The woman on the left, in a white shirt, holds a plaque. The man on the right, in a white shirt and khaki shorts, has a green and yellow scarf around his waist and small items hanging from his neck.

    Stotesbury Cup Regatta

    Grace Moore '24 (middle); Newport Rowing Club, 2023 Stotesbury Cup Champion in the Girls Senior 1x

  • Four young female rowers in matching blue and white uniforms holding a trophy and medals, celebrating their victory by the water.

    Royal Canadian Henley Regatta

    Grace Moore '24 (first on right); Fairmount Rowing Association, 2023 Royal Canadian Henley Champion in the Women’s Under 19 4x

  • Group of female rowers in athletic gear and medals, outdoors near a river with trees in the background.

    CAA Championships

    Maddy Singh '19 (first row, third from left); University of Delaware, 2023 CAA Bronze Medalist

  • united states national champions newport rowing club alumni from newport, delaware; 15 minutes south of wilmington delaware

    World Rowing Championships

    Lanie Tierney '17 (right); United States Senior National Team, 2022 World Rowing Silver Medalist